My blood sugar was 438. What's yours?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So, a couple of months ago my vision started to get noticeably worse. Then, I started getting thirsty all the time. So I drank liquids. LOTS of liquids: water, juice, pop…guzzled 'em by the glassful.

Of course, I peed like the pressure release from Hoover Dam. Frequently. Even at night. Five or six times per night.

I got to thinking…this ain’t normal.

So I go to my doctor. I tell her my symptoms. She asks if I have an idea what it might be. I answer, “Diabetes?” She says, “Let’s see.”

A nurse brings in a glucometer. One finger poke and five seconds later, I look at the screen and it says:

438

The doctor says, “You have diabetes.”

Oh, goody. Now I’m more prone to heart attack, stroke, blindness, peripheral neuropathy, and kidney failure.

And I love potatoes and pasta.

I’m on medication now, and I’m up to three miles a day running. Since the symptoms started I’ve lost 20 pounds, and I plan to try and lose 20 more. I’m eating healthy food.

Healthy food sucks. Gimme back my mac and cheese. Damn.

I just checked my blood a few minutes ago, and it was 130. That’s the lowest it’s been since I found out I’m oversweetened.

Heh. I quit smoking 5 months ago. My vision got bad, my insomnia got worse, and I got diabetes. Yeah, life’s fair.

I know…I probably had diabetes all along, but it just wasn’t displaying any symptoms yet. So what brought it on? I wish I knew.

You know what I miss most? Mountain Dew. (That diet stuff don’t make it.)

I’m a diabetic.

Sonuvabitch.

2

When my brother was 16, he was misdiagnosed with a stomach bug and dehydration at a the hospital. When he returned, sicker than ever, they tested his blood sugar and it was over 1000. He was there for 2 weeks, mostly in ICU. At the other extreme, one day he was in bed and wouldn’t wake up, and when the paramedics arrived and checked his blood sugar, it was so low they couldn’t even get a reading. He has type I diabetes, and it’s more or less under control, these days, through a combination of 2 types of insulin, other medications, and diet. My father, on the other hand, was diagnosed with type II, and he was able to control it through diet and medication. Diabetes is scary stuff; I’m sorry it’s something you have to deal with.

3

I have diabetes 2. Diagnosed in 1999, but I may have developed it earlier. I’ve been in the hospital several times due to infection setting into my feet. Bacteria love sugar, if you have a high glucose level, they’ll feast. I have also had toes amputated from both feet. I’m lucky, I can still walk and drive, although I need custom-built shoes. I’m not saying you have to look forward to that. Og willing, if you maintain a healthy lifestyle, none of that may happen. Other than that, I’ve had no bad effects. My vision is fine. Clear and sharp with corrective lenses. No kidney problems and my blood pressure is good. And average blood sugar readings of 130. Diabetes can be managed if you work at it. Good to see your blood sugar is healthy and you’re losing weight. I’m trying to lose, too. Too bad we have to find out we have a disease to motivate us to take care of ourselves, but keeping your sugar level in a healthy range and maintaining a healthy weight does wonders to lessen or delay the problems that diabetes can cause.

And keep drinking the diet soda, even if you don’t like it as well as the regular soda. And go for something like Crystal Light, as well.

4

Hub was diagnosed with diabetes a few years ago as well. He had no symptoms. He was getting a regularly-scheduled physical for the Army and the doc found his blood sugar to be in the mid 400’s. Fortunately, he’s been able to keep it under control with diet and oral meds.

His only issue is that every time we drive past the clinic where he was tested, he pseudo-angrily proclaims, “THAT’S where I got diabetes, dammit!!!” Silly man.

5

Only more prone in the sense that if you don’t take care of yourself it might happen. I know I find that thought a big relief – yay, a good glycosolated hemoglobin! No kidney failure for me this year!

I won’t lie to you and tell you this is going to be easy, because it’s going to suck some major butt for a long time. But it can be overcome. Look on the bright side – you could have ebola.

I’ve been a Type I diabetic since I was four, so about 19 years. Only one in my family, but they’ve spent nearly the past twenty years eating like a diabetic, so we struggle through it together. See if you can’t get your wife/family to eat with you – a healthy diet for a diabetic is really a healthy diet for anyone.

There’s been amazing progress in treatment even since the late '80s, and that’s a good thing – an amazing thing. I’m not saying they’re going to find a cure next year or anything, but there might be better methods of treatment broaching the horizon any time.

I would say my blood sugar’s probably in the 80s right now, and that feels great – it’s practically acceptable for a non-diabetic. It’s been a few hours since I ate dinner, but I haven’t been running in circles or anything since then.

Rysdad, if you need support or need someone to bitch to about how much you miss hotdish and apple pie or want some diabetic friendly recipes, my e-mail’s in my profile or you can PM me.

6

That’s very civil of you, sir. A large whisky, please! :slight_smile:

7

I started out with Type 2 diabetes, and now am Type 1. The transformation was not because of anything I ‘did wrong’. That’s just how it works sometimes, according to my Endo.

It’s not pleasant to manage your diabetes, but it can be done, and done quite well. You just have to be really picky about what you eat. I adore my carbs…potatoes, bread, pasta…My ‘trinity’.
Well, it used to be, anyway.
Now, not so much.
Damnit.

If you are craving carbs, go ahead and have some potatoes (or whatever carb you are craving), but that’s it for the day, usually. Don’t go overboard on the serving of them, either. Just eat ONE serving, and no more. Sometimes that one serving is too much.
I can’t eat half a serving of (unsweetened) oatmeal, and if I do, I’ll have no more carbs the rest of the day. I can’t eat any fruit at all, either.
The oatmeal and fruit shoots my BG to the moon, I swear.

I take three insulin injections per day, plus the assorted pills, to control my BG. I have to give up an awful lot, but it’s worth it. Trust me. My mom is Type 1, and is currently having kidney failure. She wouldn’t take care of herself when she was first told she was diabetic many years ago. Now, she’s paying the price. With her life. I chose NOT to go the same route as she did.

I pay strict attention to everything that I put into my mouth. I check my BG faithfully, seven times per day, as well as taking my injections and meds as prescribed.
It’s working out great for me, too! I keep my fasting BG at around 90, and my 2 hour after meals BG in the neighborhood of 120 to 135.

Controlling your BG is just something that you need to do, even though we all feel rather screwed, because we want/crave stuff that we love to eat.
You’ll get past that, though.
It’s just something that will come naturally to you, given enough time.
It’s for the best.
Really. It is.

8

Mom was recently diagnosed with Type II.

Her GP happens to be my SiL - talk about knowing your patients’ habits! She was suspicious because many of the things that happened to Mom looked like diabetes symptoms. But some of those things (waking up to pee every two hours, for example) had been going on for years and yet she’d never had high sugar. Having several chronical illnesses, Mom gets monitored quite a lot, including bloodwork every six months or so.

So Doc decided to order another test (don’t ask me what it’s called, Mom can be very vague when she wants to) and this one said “diabetes” in big neon yellow letters. They’ve figured that, since the way Mom eats *when she behaves * isn’t so different from the diabetes diet, she actually had it pretty much under control. But now she gets to have a machine to check if she’s doing all right.

I love it because now when Mom is overdoing it, the machine will be perfectly happy to say so :stuck_out_tongue: She seems to be on the way to accepting that the day she’s going to have pasta for lunch is not a good day to eat a sweetbun as a midmorning snack.

9

Congratulations on all the healthy changes you’ve made! Since you’re Ry’s Dad, it’s pretty clear what your motivation is :wink: . Three miles a day - thatsa lotta running! Excellent work!

My FIL’s blood sugar was in the 600s when he was diagnosed. He was able to back off of insulin about a year later, once he’d changed his diet and started exercising. He also quit caffeine, which has helped his heart function greatly. Well, that, and retiring from his high-stress job.

10

Thank you all for your kind words of support. Misery loves company.

I have a 4-hour diabetes class on August 2nd where I’m sure I’ll learn a lot more about our shared affliction. Until then I’ll continue to eat rabbit food.

BTW, this morning’s BG: 143

Keep on keepin’ on.

11

Hey, good on you for catching it and going to the doctor, and sorry about the bad news. Please do keep up the good work in controlling your BG. As someone who works for an ophthalmologist, I’ve seen firsthand the results of diabetic retinopathy, and they are generally not fixable. Take care of yourself, man.

12

November ’05 my wife woke up with her heart racing. She has a mitral valve prolapse that can occasionally make it race but it usually passes fast. Took her to the hospital and the doc asked her if she was diabetic and she said, “I wasn’t but I’ll bet you’re going to tell me I am.” Sure enough she tested over 500. All previous tests over the years had placed her at the high end of normal.

She now controls with diet and meds and has it under control.

Good luck to you.

13

Thank goodness you caught it, though! A couple of years back, a friend of mine since we were 12 developed Type II and no one realized it. I saw him over his Christmas break, and he was dead by New Years’. He was a psych professor, lived alone, and apparently his blood sugar got so high that he couldn’t think coherently, probably slipped into delerium, then coma, then dead, all before classes began.

Especially tragic since another friend of ours is severely Type I diabetic, and we’d all been talking about a crisis he’d just gone through.

So, seriously, keep on treating this as an important. I worked with a lot of blind or vision-impaired people who were diabetic “cheaters” (retinopathy as OneCentStamp mentioned), and my diabetic grandmother “cheated”, and died early. But my Type I friend has his under control, and suffers no real health effects other than having to plan for when he’ll be eating.

14

Scary fact: a couple times a month, our clinic will give someone their first diagnosis of adult-onset diabetes. That is, a (usually 45-60 year old) patient will come in because they think they need new glasses, and our doctor will take one look in the back of their eyes and say, “You have diabetes, Mr. Stone.” Retinal damage is not an early warning sign of diabetes. It makes you wonder how those people’s fingers and toes are doing. :frowning:

15

My plane trip on July 4th was supposed to go to Denver but it took me straight to hell. Nauseous that morning, by the time we took off I felt just about to blow. Immediately went back to be close to the bathroom and hung out in the Flight Attendant’s area with them. Finally just went into the bathroom and made myself sick, then it happened three more times. Heck, when we physically landed I was leaning over the john in absolute misery just wishin’ I’d go ahead and die. It’s the only time the act of throwing up didn’t make me feel better, in fact the Captain came back after we landed and darn near carried me up to first class and laid me out. A half dozen fireman-types, a Continental rep and a paramedic came on board, started asking questions and whether I had diabetes kept coming up. He did a blood sugar and I was 191. From what I understand that’s high, but I’m not sure it’s a confirmation.

They ended up wheeling me off the plane and putting me on an ambulance to an Aurora hospital. The emergency room doctor there ran a bunch of tests and also said “Go get checked for diabetes.” Ugh, what an absolutely miserable day.

Haven’t done it yet. It’s not what I want to hear.

Sorry, Rysdad. I hope you manage it well and it’s not too much of a lifestyle change.

16

I have four words for you:

High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Start reading labels. Do not eat/drink anything with that ingredient. You’d be surprised how many food items have it.
I was diagnosed as a Type II a year and a half ago. It was only because I changed health plans that I found out. I was on the usual meds (Metformin, Amaryl, and Lisinopryl), but found out that I could manage my blood sugar by just changing my diet.

The more that I learned about Type II diabetes, the more dissillusioned I became with it’s current treatment plans. My regular Dr. wanted me to try some new ijectible insulin. The drawback? It costs $300 a month, and is not covered by my health insurance. My diabetic Dr. has an older scale, and does not calibrate it. I can leave one Dr’s office, drive 15 minutes to the other, and gain 9 pounds while shrinking 1 1/2 inches in height.

I started feeling that my symptoms were being treated instead of my disease*. So I watch what I eat, and have started excercising. Well, not using the treadmill as a clothes hanger, anyway.
*Please note that this post (and it’s opinions) are solely that of the poster, and are not meant in any way to suggest to anyone that they change the procedures/treatment plans recommended by their medical practioners.

17

WOW! 438.

I was just put on Metaformin for Type II and was devastated, now it looks like I caught it early and its not so bad taking a pill once a day. I’ve overhauled my diet and check my blood sugar twice a day. Hold on I’ll get my meter out.
.
.
.
OK, Right now 104, 7 day average 111. I’m good.

18

What’s a “normal” blood sugar level? What’s the easiest way to test it – with one of those kits from the pharmacy? I know next to nothing about diabetes, but I’m told I might be at risk for it.

19

I think normal is like 70-120, right?

Mine was 85 last time I got it checked.

20

I honestly don’t know. I had it checked last Oct and my doc said: Your sugar is great.

I’ll have it checked again in a month or two.